Title : Marker-assisted introgression to improve the oleic acid content in the TMV 7 groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) variety suitable for the oil industry
Abstract:
Improving the quality and shelf life of groundnut oil is a key objective in groundnut breeding programmes. In this study, marker-assisted introgression was employed to enhance the oleic acid content of the popular Indian groundnut variety TMV 7. A recessive mutation responsible for elevated oleic acid levels was transferred from the donor line ICG 15419 into the TMV 7 genetic background using hybridization and backcrossing strategies. F1, BC1F1, BC2F1, and BC2F2 generations were developed and screened. Introgressed lines were identified using allele-specific markers (F435-F, F435SUB-R) along with SSR markers for background genome recovery. After two backcrosses, ten homozygous BC2F2 lines exhibited significantly higher oleic acid content (54.23% to 57.72%) — an increase of 36% over the recurrent parent. Among these, the line IL-23 displayed 91.12% recovery of the recurrent parent genome. Importantly, phenotypic evaluation revealed that all agronomic traits remained comparable to TMV 7, except for improved oleic and linoleic acid profiles. These introgressed lines with enhanced oil quality and minimal agronomic deviation from the parent line will be evaluated under multilocation trials, prior to release for commercial cultivation.
Keywords: Quality trait, Backcross breeding, Oleic acid, NIR estimation, Allele-specific primers, SSR markers
